(SL)– How much more can Haiti take. Officials say the the death toll could rise into the thousands. Right now the number is 842. Tens of thousands of people have been left homeless in its rampage through Haiti earlier this week before it lashed Florida on Friday with howling winds and rolled northward up the US Atlantic coast.

Haiti, the poorest country in the Americas was left in devastation. The United States said it would send a Navy ship to the Island, with 300 Marines to add to the 250 personnel and nine helicopters already ordered to deploy to the country.

The massive storm will batter coastal Georgia and South Carolina Friday night and Saturday with a dangerous storm surge, damaging winds gusts and flooding rain. If the latest computer model projections are correct, coastal South Carolina could endure a direct hit.President Obama warned coastal residents not to let their guards down, especially given the storm surge threat. “Remember Sandy,” Obama said, “when people thought it wasn’t as bad as we thought and suddenly we got a massive storm surge.”

Saying, “Don’t be part of the history of this hurricane that might include a long list of fatalities in the US due to water,” Rick Knabb, director of the National Hurricane Center, pleaded with residents of Georgia and South Carolina to evacuate as the storm approached from the South.